External HDD recommendation

[Satyaa]

I have another thread about a problem I'm facing with my external HDD, used for offline backup of photos/files. Those 5+ years old disks may be reaching end of life and I want to replace them before I lose significant data.

Primary purpose is offline dual backup. When I say backup, I don't use Windows/Macrium type backup tools where it compresses files into an archive file. I use FreeFileSync to create a replica of the required HDD folders. I have two drives with same data and have periodic backup schedule.

I don't need blazing speeds, but some reasonable speed. External drives because they are for offline storage and the two disks are stored in two different places. My current drives are portable and USB powered but I am going for larger capacity, so most likely externally powered.

I have plans to move to Mac in future when my 7-year-old desktop dies. So, I am considering formatting the new drives something other than NTFS. These files are documents, guides, photos, etc., but nothing financial or other secrets. So, no encryption or super safety is required. They mean nothing to someone who finds/steals the disk but would be a big loss to me!

I hoped to go for an SSD but 8TB drives are in the $600 region. So, not for now.

I found the following five models, each under $200. Any recommendations, pros/cons, related thoughts are appreciated. A couple of them are called 'game hub' (a term new to me) but only one of them says Windows/Mac compatible.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...bwlg0080hbk_nesn_8tb_wd_elements_desktop.html

• Features a USB 3.0 port for fast data transfers and comes exFAT formatted for Windows and Mac
• Password Protection with Hardware Encryption (using WD security tools)
• Single USB3 socket and 12v power socket
• Drive speed not specified, probably 5400RPM

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...e_stkp8000400_stkp_8tb_expansion_desktop.html

• Preformatted exFAT, meaning it is compatible with Windows and Mac right out of the box
• Single USB3 socket and 12v power socket, comes with 18W power adapter
• Drive speed not specified, probably 5400RPM

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1501519-REG/wd_wdba3p0080hbk_nesn_wd_black_p10_8tb.html

• Built with a 7200 rpm hard drive, it features active cooling for optimal performance
• USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.1 Gen 1, and USB 3.0 are synonymous and all offer a max transfer speed of 5 Gb/s
• Two built-in USB Type-A ports offer up to 7.5W of power delivery each, so you can conveniently charge mobile devices

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1384714-REG/seagate_stgg8000400_game_drive_hub_for.html

• Dual front-facing USB 3.0 ports let you charge your controllers and mobile devices
• Drive speed not specified, probably 5400RPM

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1639071-REG/seagate_stkk8000400_firecuda_gaming_hub.html

• Compatible with Windows and Mac, Seagate's FireCuda Gaming Hub connects to your host system using an integrated micro-USB 3.2 Gen 1 (3.1 Gen 1/3.0) port and an included 4' micro-USB to USB Type-A cable
• For additional peripheral connectivity, there is one USB Type-C port and one USB Type-A power
• Rescue Data Recovery Services, coverage is provided for three years

Thanks!

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.

 

[Satyaa]

Another option is https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1452361-REG/lacie_stha8000800_8tb_d2_usb_3_1.html

I was trying to stay under $200 but this is going over that pricepoint.

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.

 

[Chris Noble]

At this stage, if you are thinking of a new backup system just go directly to the Cloud. Much more convenient, more reliable, safer. And lots of options.

 

[Satyaa]

At this stage, if you are thinking of a new backup system just go directly to the Cloud. Much more convenient, more reliable, safer. And lots of options.

That's an interesting option.

I have last one year's file on my desktop and anything older stays in the two offline disks. I can plug in the disk and use the files if I want.

Will it be a similar option with cloud, where I can have current files on my PC but be able to access older files when needed?

Thanks

 

[Chris Noble]

At this stage, if you are thinking of a new backup system just go directly to the Cloud. Much more convenient, more reliable, safer. And lots of options.

That's an interesting option.

I have last one year's file on my desktop and anything older stays in the two offline disks. I can plug in the disk and use the files if I want.

Will it be a similar option with cloud, where I can have current files on my PC but be able to access older files when needed?

Thanks

Backup is different from simply storing some of your files externally.

 

[jfriend00]

At this stage, if you are thinking of a new backup system just go directly to the Cloud. Much more convenient, more reliable, safer. And lots of options.

That's an interesting option.

I have last one year's file on my desktop and anything older stays in the two offline disks. I can plug in the disk and use the files if I want.

Will it be a similar option with cloud, where I can have current files on my PC but be able to access older files when needed?

Thanks

There's cloud storage which is just storage in the cloud you pay for and you can copy anything you want there and they will keep it. You will typically pay for this by the GB or TB per year with some initial amount free depending upon the specific service (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Dropbox and others).

And, there's a different type of service cloud backup which just serves as a backup of files you currently have on your hard drives. This is typically a one-direction sync from your hard drives to the cloud backup store. FYI, I use Backblaze myself which offers unlimited backup storage for a reasonable annual fee.

So, if you want last year's files stored somewhere, but not on your own hard drive, then you would be looking for cloud storage.

Unless your main computer does not have upgradable storage (perhaps a laptop), I don't know why you'd separately store some things offline and some things on your computer and deal with the hassle of not having ready access to it all. Just get a bigger drive. You can get a 6TB internal drive for $120, 8TB for $140. Storage is really cheap these days.

 

[skyglider]

I have another thread about a problem I'm facing with my external HDD, used for offline backup of photos/files. Those 5+ years old disks may be reaching end of life and I want to replace them before I lose significant data. ....snip....

My recommendation is to NOT buy USB3 enclosures that have HDDs in them. Instead buy a USB3 docking station and then buy bare HDDs to insert in the docking station.

Why? Because when a friend had problems with a drive that was enclosed in a USB case, removing the drive and connecting directly to a SATA port on the motherboard, the drive would not work. Before I started using docking stations, I happened to have the same USB case that my friend had. I put her drive in my case and the drive worked. So the drive was OK but apparently the case used some sort of proprietary method so the drive only worked in their case.

Using USB3 docking stations (I have two), the bare drives work with the SATA ports on the motherboard so the docking stations use standard read/write methods. Besides, it's much easier to store smaller bare drives in a safe than larger cases. Also it's much easier to just drop a bare drive into the slot of a docking station instead of connecting the power and signal cables to a case.

It's fine to buy cheap 5400 rpm SMR (shingled) HDDs for backup purposes. If the HDD is used for daily read/write operations, then buy 7200 rpm CMR (conventional) HDDs or SSDs. Only for data drives. For system drive, only buy a SSD for speed.

Using a docking station, you can format the drive as exFAT if desired to be compatible with your future Mac system.

I buy Seagate or WD HDDs, whichever is cheaper at the time.

 

[Satyaa]

Thanks for the pointers. I will research those options.

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.

 

[Satyaa]

At this stage, if you are thinking of a new backup system just go directly to the Cloud. Much more convenient, more reliable, safer. And lots of options.

That's an interesting option.

I have last one year's file on my desktop and anything older stays in the two offline disks. I can plug in the disk and use the files if I want.

Will it be a similar option with cloud, where I can have current files on my PC but be able to access older files when needed?

Thanks

There's cloud storage which is just storage in the cloud you pay for and you can copy anything you want there and they will keep it. You will typically pay for this by the GB or TB per year with some initial amount free depending upon the specific service (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Dropbox and others).

Understood. From what I know, the files I need would need to be downloaded to the local drive to use them.

And, there's a different type of service cloud backup which just serves as a backup of files you currently have on your hard drives. This is typically a one-direction sync from your hard drives to the cloud backup store. FYI, I use Backblaze myself which offers unlimited backup storage for a reasonable annual fee.

If you delete a local file, does it also delete it in the cloud storage? Meaning, does it work like a mirror image of your local drive?

So, if you want last year's files stored somewhere, but not on your own hard drive, then you would be looking for cloud storage.

You are thinking the opposite way. I keep the last one year's files on the PC but older ones are in the two external drives.

Unless your main computer does not have upgradable storage (perhaps a laptop), I don't know why you'd separately store some things offline and some things on your computer and deal with the hassle of not having ready access to it all. Just get a bigger drive. You can get a 6TB internal drive for $120, 8TB for $140. Storage is really cheap these days.

Right now that might work. This PC might also reach its end of life in a year. So, I have plans to move to a MacBook Pro. Having large local drive is not an affordable option. Today I have a 1TB SSD for primary/system drive and 2TB SSD for secondary/data drive. Moving to MacBook Pro, I'll probably go as high as 1TB. That will force me to have everything off the PC but be able to access when needed.

Thanks.

 

[Chris Noble]

At this stage, if you are thinking of a new backup system just go directly to the Cloud. Much more convenient, more reliable, safer. And lots of options.

That's an interesting option.

I have last one year's file on my desktop and anything older stays in the two offline disks. I can plug in the disk and use the files if I want.

Will it be a similar option with cloud, where I can have current files on my PC but be able to access older files when needed?

Thanks

There's cloud storage which is just storage in the cloud you pay for and you can copy anything you want there and they will keep it. You will typically pay for this by the GB or TB per year with some initial amount free depending upon the specific service (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Dropbox and others).

And, there's a different type of service cloud backup which just serves as a backup of files you currently have on your hard drives. This is typically a one-direction sync from your hard drives to the cloud backup store. FYI, I use Backblaze myself which offers unlimited backup storage for a reasonable annual fee.

Concurring and adding: The two are not conceptually different. The main difference is in the pricing. Cloud storage typically costs the same to upload as to download. Cloud backup typically is very cheap to upload but very expensive to download.

Both types of services are available from many vendors. Make sure you don't compare apples and oranges. But some people (like me) use both.

 

[zotynimon]

I have plans to move to Mac in future when my 7-year-old desktop dies. So, I am considering formatting the new drives something other than NTFS. These files are documents, guides, photos, etc., but nothing financial or other secrets. So, no encryption or super safety is required. They mean nothing to someone who finds/steals the disk but would be a big loss to me!

Read through this thread with good info (particularly my multiple posts with info) about formatting an external drive to be usable on both Windows and MacOS:

Copy NTFS to APFS

I have an NTFS 4tb external USB spinning drive (used with my Windows PC) and I just bought another 4tb external USB drive that I will format APFS for use with my M1 Mac. I want to copy everything from the NTFS drive to the APFS drive. The NTFS drive has about 2.5tb of data on it. It is my...

www.dpreview.com

 

[Satyaa]

Thank you

 

[jfriend00]

At this stage, if you are thinking of a new backup system just go directly to the Cloud. Much more convenient, more reliable, safer. And lots of options.

That's an interesting option.

I have last one year's file on my desktop and anything older stays in the two offline disks. I can plug in the disk and use the files if I want.

Will it be a similar option with cloud, where I can have current files on my PC but be able to access older files when needed?

Thanks

There's cloud storage which is just storage in the cloud you pay for and you can copy anything you want there and they will keep it. You will typically pay for this by the GB or TB per year with some initial amount free depending upon the specific service (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Dropbox and others).

Understood. From what I know, the files I need would need to be downloaded to the local drive to use them.

Some cloud storage options allow you to directly access them in cloud storage as if the cloud storage was a local drive (at an obviously compromised speed).

And, there's a different type of service cloud backup which just serves as a backup of files you currently have on your hard drives. This is typically a one-direction sync from your hard drives to the cloud backup store. FYI, I use Backblaze myself which offers unlimited backup storage for a reasonable annual fee.

If you delete a local file, does it also delete it in the cloud storage? Meaning, does it work like a mirror image of your local drive?

If you are using cloud backup, then the backup endeavors to be a mirror of your current local drive (that's what backup means) so a local delete will be deleted on the cloud backup. Depending upon the backup service, it may have versioning where it keeps earlier versions of your file (including deleted files) for some period of time, but not permanently.

So, if you want last year's files stored somewhere, but not on your own hard drive, then you would be looking for cloud storage.

You are thinking the opposite way. I keep the last one year's files on the PC but older ones are in the two external drives.

I meant the same thing you're saying. By "last year", I meant previous years, not current year.

Unless your main computer does not have upgradable storage (perhaps a laptop), I don't know why you'd separately store some things offline and some things on your computer and deal with the hassle of not having ready access to it all. Just get a bigger drive. You can get a 6TB internal drive for $120, 8TB for $140. Storage is really cheap these days.

Right now that might work. This PC might also reach its end of life in a year. So, I have plans to move to a MacBook Pro.

If you have needs for large storage, why move to a form factor that can't have large storage?

Having large local drive is not an affordable option. Today I have a 1TB SSD for primary/system drive and 2TB SSD for secondary/data drive. Moving to MacBook Pro, I'll probably go as high as 1TB. That will force me to have everything off the PC but be able to access when needed.

OK, if you must go with a non-expandable system, then an USB external drive then. I bought a quite fast SanDisk 2TB SSD USB 3.1 external drive for $129 on Black Friday (currently selling for $149). If you have a fast USB port to use it in, it is surprisingly fast. This same product also comes in 4TB versions.

--
John

 

[jfriend00]

So, if you want last year's files stored somewhere, but not on your own hard drive, then you would be looking for cloud storage.

You are thinking the opposite way. I keep the last one year's files on the PC but older ones are in the two external drives.

FYI, this process is more commonly called archiving where older stuff is kept on secondary storage.

 

[Satyaa]

Thanks, John

 

[Satyaa]

So, if you want last year's files stored somewhere, but not on your own hard drive, then you would be looking for cloud storage.

You are thinking the opposite way. I keep the last one year's files on the PC but older ones are in the two external drives.

FYI, this process is more commonly called archiving where older stuff is kept on secondary storage.

Yes, agreed

 

[Satyaa]

I have plans to move to Mac in future when my 7-year-old desktop dies. So, I am considering formatting the new drives something other than NTFS. These files are documents, guides, photos, etc., but nothing financial or other secrets. So, no encryption or super safety is required. They mean nothing to someone who finds/steals the disk but would be a big loss to me!

Read through this thread with good info (particularly my multiple posts with info) about formatting an external drive to be usable on both Windows and MacOS:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66641002

Wow. Some of the experiences mentioned on that thread are scaring me. I am now thinking that I should just worry about Windows for now. Besides my desktop, I have two Windows laptops and a Linux laptop. They all work fine with the current USB 3 HDDs.

When this desktop dies and I want to get a Mac, I need to find a NAS type solution that I can access from Mac and all current machines.

Thanks.

 

[zotynimon]

I have plans to move to Mac in future when my 7-year-old desktop dies. So, I am considering formatting the new drives something other than NTFS. These files are documents, guides, photos, etc., but nothing financial or other secrets. So, no encryption or super safety is required. They mean nothing to someone who finds/steals the disk but would be a big loss to me!

Read through this thread with good info (particularly my multiple posts with info) about formatting an external drive to be usable on both Windows and MacOS:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66641002

Wow. Some of the experiences mentioned on that thread are scaring me. I am now thinking that I should just worry about Windows for now. Besides my desktop, I have two Windows laptops and a Linux laptop. They all work fine with the current USB 3 HDDs.

I have an external 2tb SSD formatted exFAT and an external 4tb HDD formatted exFAT that I am using on the Mac, but which allows use on my PCs too. More info here:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66657323

So far no problems, but it is not ideal. I try to be very careful. This is the PC forum so if you would like to discuss the Mac side please just reply to that thread. This issue of data portability also applies to Windows and Linux though.

 

[Satyaa]

I have plans to move to Mac in future when my 7-year-old desktop dies. So, I am considering formatting the new drives something other than NTFS. These files are documents, guides, photos, etc., but nothing financial or other secrets. So, no encryption or super safety is required. They mean nothing to someone who finds/steals the disk but would be a big loss to me!

Read through this thread with good info (particularly my multiple posts with info) about formatting an external drive to be usable on both Windows and MacOS:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66641002

Wow. Some of the experiences mentioned on that thread are scaring me. I am now thinking that I should just worry about Windows for now. Besides my desktop, I have two Windows laptops and a Linux laptop. They all work fine with the current USB 3 HDDs.

I have an external 2tb SSD formatted exFAT and an external 4tb HDD formatted exFAT that I am using on the Mac, but which allows use on my PCs too. More info here:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66657323

So far no problems, but it is not ideal. I try to be very careful. This is the PC forum so if you would like to discuss the Mac side please just reply to that thread. This issue of data portability also applies to Windows and Linux though.

Thank you for links to multiple posts. They were helpful.

My immediate need is to replace the failing Windows external drives. So, I have decided to find similar drives with higher capacity.

As the Mac migration is a year or two away, I decided not complicate this decision with that option.

When I migrate to Mac, I will find necessary solutions while keeping these Windows drives separate.

Thanks.

 

[silentstorm]

This looks like a good deal right now.

Amazon.com: Crucial X8 4TB Portable SSD - Up to 1050MB/s - PC and Mac - USB 3.2 External Solid State Drive - CT4000X8SSD9 : Electronics

Buy Crucial X8 4TB Portable SSD - Up to 1050MB/s - PC and Mac - USB 3.2 External Solid State Drive - CT4000X8SSD9: External Solid State Drives - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

And I recommend formatting external backup drive in exFAT 128K cluster size for best compatibility between win and mac.

Anything short of such direct attached storage would be to use a NAS in btrfs. Both win and mac can connect to it and read/write to it. I just gotten a Synology few months back and it works great for both OSes.